In addition to Nemesis, Hardy is known for his supporting roles in such films as Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down (2001), Matthew Vaughn's Layer Cake (2004), and Christopher Nolan's Inception (2010). He has also earned recognition for his acclaimed, award-winning performance in the 2008 biographical drama, Bronson. He is currently attached to star in Nolan's third Batman feature, The Dark Knight Rises, and in the fourth Mad Max film, Fury Road.

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Personal life

Hailing from East Sheen, London, Hardy received a prep school and boarding school education and attended cram schools in Kensington. During his youth, he was involved in various altercations and showed a tendency towards violent, unruly behavior. At the age of 15, he was arrested after being caught joyriding in a stolen Mercedes, although he was not charged with an offense. He also used drugs and drank heavily throughout his teens and early adulthood.

Hardy became interested in acting while in boarding school. After briefly working as a model, Hardy studied at London's Drama Centre, where he performed in such stage productions as Measure for Measure, Tartuffe, and Ivanov. In January 1999, during his second year at the school, Hardy married a woman named Sarah.

Shortly after completing filming on Nemesis, Hardy had a physical and mental breakdown brought about from his drug and alcohol addiction. Although this breakdown cost him his marriage, it motivated him to clean up his act. He has been clean of both drugs and alcohol since 2005.[1][2]

For a time, Hardy was dating Star Trek: Enterprise actress Linda Park (Hoshi Sato) after they acted together in a play called Roger and Vanessa. They lived together in South London, England, and were even going to form their own theatre company.[3][4] However, they have since broken off their relationship, and Linda Park is now residing in Los Angeles, California.

Early career

In 2000, Hardy left the Drama Centre to play US Army Private John Janovec in the award-winning HBO mini-series Band of Brothers, co-starring with Star Trek: First Contact actor Neal McDonough. The following year, Hardy made his feature film debut in the acclaimed war film Black Hawk Down, playing specialist Lance Twombly. This film also featured fellow Trek alumni Eric Bana, Glenn Morshower, and Enrique Murciano.

It was while shooting Black Hawk Down in Morocco that Hardy filmed and submitted a "bizarre" audition tape to Amanda Mackey Johnson and Cathy Sandrich Gelfond, the casting directors of Star Trek Nemesis. Besides the audition, the unedited tape also had some "rather curious home video footage," including Hardy dancing around in boxer shorts. Producer Rick Berman and director Stuart Baird were impressed with his audition and after several screen tests, Hardy won the role of Shinzon, the Romulan-created clone of CaptainJean-Luc Picard, beating out such contenders as James Marsters and Michael Shanks. [5][6][7][8] Hardy went on to receive a Saturn Award nomination from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for his performance .

Career after Nemesis

2003–2006

Following his work on Nemesis, Hardy returned to the United Kingdom, where he starred in such films as Dot the I, The Reckoning, and LD 50 Lethal Dose. In 2003, he acted alongside Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine star Colm Meaney in the acclaimed British crime film Layer Cake, which opened in the United States in May 2005.

Hardy won the Outstanding Newcomer award from the 2003 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for his performances in two plays: Blood (performed at the Royal Court Theatre) and Arabia, We'd All Be Kings (performed at the Hampstead Theatre). He was also nominated for a 2004 Laurence Olivier Award for the latter play.

Hardy subsequently appeared in a number of British television productions, including the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) TV movie Sweeney Todd (in which he worked with David Warner) and the BBC mini-series The Virgin Queen. In 2006, co-starred with Tony Todd in the horror film Minotaur. That same year, he appeared in the 2006 biographical drama Marie Antoinette, which starred Kirsten Dunst in the title role.

2007–2010

In 2007, Hardy had supporting roles in the British films Flood and W Delta Z. He also appeared on the British TV drama Cape Wrath. He then starred as the title role of the BBC2 TV movie Stuart: A Life Backwards, which tells the true story of a homeless alcoholic who befriends a writer. He was nominated for a BAFTA Award for his performance in this movie.

Hardy next filmed a BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, in which he played Bill Sikes. He then had a supporting role in Guy Ritchie's action film RocknRolla, after which he appeared in Mimi Leder's crime film Thick as Thieves and starred in a TV adaptation of Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights. He also starred as violent British criminal-turned-prisoner Charles Bronson in the 2009 biographical drama Bronson, for which he won a British Independent Film Award as Best Actor. He was nominated by the London Critics Circle Film Award as British Actor of the Year for his work in Bronson.

Hardy portrayed the role of Eames in Christopher Nolan's acclaimed, high-concept action film, Inception. Frequent Star Trek guest actor Tim Kelleher also has a role in this film. At the 2011 BAFTA Awards, Hardy won the Orange Wednesday award for the best Rising Star. This was the only award that was voted for by members of the public, rather than the Academy.

2011–present

Following his breakthrough role in Inception, Hardy starred with Jennifer Morrison in the acclaimed 2011 sports drama Warrior. Morrison is the second performer from 2009's Star Trek with whom Hardy has worked; he previously acted alongside Eric Bana (Nero) in Black Hawk Down. Hardy also appeared in the 2011 film adaptation of John le Carré's novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy along with Benedict Cumberbatch, who later portrayed the antagonist in Star Trek Into Darkness. More recently, Hardy co-starred with Chris Pine (James T. Kirk in 2009's Star Trek) in the action comedy This Means War.[9]

Hardy's most high-profile role to date is that of Bane in Christopher Nolan's third Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises. His casting was announced on 13 October 2010;[10] his role was revealed to be Bane in January 2011. [11] With the exception of brief flashback sequences, Hardy's character wears a respirator mask throughout the entire film, causing his voice to be somewhat muffled. Several months before the film's release, after the first six minutes of The Dark Knight Rises was attached to 70mm IMAX prints of Paramount Pictures' Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (starring, among others, Simon Pegg), a minor controversy erupted when some viewers found Hardy's dialogue to be unintelligible due to the mask.[12] As a result, the sound mix for his voice was altered to make his speech clearer. [13] The film also features appearances by Brett Cullen, Massi Furlan, Reggie Lee and Wade Williams, as well as production designs by Nathan Crowley.

Announced projects

Hardy is attached to star as "Mad Max" Rockatansky in Mad Max: Fury Road and Mad Max: Furiosa, the fourth and fifth installments of the Mad Max films. The two films will be shot back to back.[14] Shooting on Fury Road was delayed twice in 2010; filming was expected to begin in late summer or fall of 2011.[15] Production finally began in Namibia in June 2012.[16]

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